Rocky
by FrostByte62
Summary: Rocky: Is a relationship anything but? Chapters rated individually at the start. May be further swearing/suggestive themes in later updates. All R&R (both positive and negative) appreciated, but if you don't like, don't read. All chapters will be Bopal-centric.
1. Chapter 1

Opening Notes:

Rated M for language

Sorry in advance for the names. I suck at making up names. Especially for universes with unusual/creative names.

Furthermore, I do not seek to offend anyone in any way, shape, or form. If you do find yourself offended, a rational explanation in the form of a strongly worded PM is more helpful than a rant in all caps. Rather than being angry, help to make things better for everyone. Thanks in advance for understanding.

Happy reading.

* * *

 **Friends**

The setting sun had begun to cast the shadow of Avatar Aang across Republic City while Bolin and Opal walked, hand in hand. It seemed poetic that, even in death, the influence of the boy with the arrow tattoo could be seen, looming over the city in the form of his statue; but the young couple could not stay to admire the view. They were on a mission. Specifically, _she_ was on a mission.

"I can't believe you're only NOW letting me meet your friends!" Opal remarked as they strolled down the city streets. "You're not embarrassed of me, are you?"

"Okay let's not start on this again. Of course not; you know that. Besides, you've met some of my friends." Bolin replied.

"Korra, Asami and the Air Benders don't count, Bo."

Bolin had been coerced into a long overdue trip. At Opals, initially tentative, and later more firm requests, Bolin had prepared and evening where she could meet some of his closest friends.

"-and _why_ don't they count exactly?"

"Because they're OUR friends. Actually, when I met all of you, they seemed more like family than friends." Opal had thought that next to his brother, the Avatar gang was the next closest thing he had to family right now. Not that it was an issue. She always found it nice that he had such close friends.

"Well, I guess I see your point." Bolin was by no means embarrassed by his air bending girlfriend. The opportunity had just never come up. They'd only been dating a few months since the whole Red Lotus incident and friendly nights with the boys just never seemed in his agenda. "I'm not worried about them liking you. Maybe the other way around though."

Opal laughed at this "C'mon, Bo. If they're good enough to be _your_ friends, I'm sure they're good people."

"Yeah I love those guys. I'm sure everything will be great." He squeezed her hand and smiled. "Oh by the way, I'll apologize in advance. We'll be listening the Pro Bending match on the radio tonight. Oh and talking. You know, just hanging out. If you're wanna hang with the guys, you gotta roll with the guys."

"That's fine. I don't really mind." Honestly, she didn't. Opal had no aversion to pro sporting. She didn't actively watch it, but if Bolin had it on when she came over, she'd just snuggle up next to him while he listened. She asked once if he missed those days. He'd said that he did, but that was a closed chapter in his life, and it was time to move on to new things. "Just as long as you remember that _I'm_ not one of the guys."

"Of course not, M'lady." Bolin pretended to tip a fedora. Opal just rolled her eyes.

* * *

The door of a dingy looking apartment complex swung open and the aforementioned couple was greeted by what could only be described as a giant. Now, Opal had always considered Bolin to be a large person. Of reasonable height and extremely muscular, she had classified him as her own giant teddy bear. But if he was a teddy bear, the guy that stood before them was one of those enormous bears boys won for their girlfriends at the carnival.

He looked down at them, and beamed at Bolin. He outstretched his arms and boomed "MY BABY BOY!"

Bolin in turn thundered "ROYUK!" The two slammed into each other with all the strength they could muster as the boy Opal understood to be Royuk lifted Bolin off the ground into a bear hug.

He shouted "It's been too long, Bolin!"

"Yeah I missed you man! Now let me down, will ya?" Bolin fell to his feet and brushed himself off. "Hey this is my-"

"Ah, the new ball-and-chain? So you're the one who's been keeping my baby away from us?"

Opal laughed, it was clear that the boys were quite close. "Well I give him kisses sooooo…"

"Oh well, can't compete with that, now can I? I'm Royuk!" He extended a hand which Opal took.

She was grateful he'd decided not to crush it in his vice-like hands. Opal smiled pleasantly and replied "Opal, but it sounds like you've already been told about me."

"Yeah, the little prick won't shut up about you."

Opal raised an eyebrow at this. Just as she was about to say something, Bolin interjected with a laugh "You're so full of shit, you fuckboi."

Opal didn't know how to react to this. She had occasionally heard Bolin swear, but never so freely. She assumed that insulting each other must be a guy thing.

"Well don't be strangers. Come on in! The others are here already. There's food too."

The three walked in to find two others crowded around a radio and a large platter of sticky-buns. They looked up at their newly arrived guests.

"Opal, this is Rham and Pau. Guys, this is my girlfriend, Opal." Bolin wrapped an arm around her as he introduced everyone. She smiled and waved.

The skinny one she'd understood to be Rham stood. He was quite tall, ornately dressed, and had golden eyes like Bolin's brother. "Nice to meet you, Opal. I'll warn you now, don't trust anything that Pau says." He grinned wryly at the friend in question.

The other boy leapt up at this, his silky, jet black hair flying up and down as he did so. Opal assumed he used too much conditioner. "Say that to my face, you Fire Nation ass-wipe!" He replied curtly. Pau only laughed.

Bolin quickly jumped between them. "Hold on a sec guys, before this takes off, we have business to attend to." He turned to his girlfriend "Opal, one of my friends is gay. We make everyone new to the group guess who it is. You're thoughts?"

Opal wasn't prepared for this. She felt that a wrong answer might put her on the others bad side, but decided it'd be safe to play along. She looked at the three in question carefully, trying to pick up on any physical cues. "Hmm…" she honestly couldn't tell. She figured she'd guess on Rham, based on the rather stylish nature of his clothes. "I'd have to guess Rham."

She didn't even have time to worry about her response. The boys immediately broke into hysterics. All except Rham, that is.

Rham shouted "THAT'S NOT FAIR! BOLIN PROBABLY TOLD HER TO SAY THAT!"

"You're so gay dude! Even she thinks so!" Royuk sounded like he was going to bust a gut laughing

Pau threw an arm around a mortified Rham "Trust me friend, I know gay guys, and you could definitely pass for one."

A doubled over Bolin straightened as he spoke "Let me explain sweetie. Pau is actually the one who's gay." Pau stood and bowed at this. "-but a while after we all met, we discovered that we all _thought_ Rham was gay at one point or another. Since then, we've always asked new friends to guess which of us is gay, and everyone almost always thinks it's Rham."

Opal giggled, pleased that her answer was deemed acceptable. If anything, answering correctly would've probably been less fun. "I don't know, he dresses kind of effeminately."

This earned another eruption of laughter while Rham began to scream over the others "EVERYONE IN THE FIRE NATION DRESSES LIKE THIS!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever makes you feel better." Bolin gasped between laughs, wiping the tears that were forming in the corners of his eyes.

Royuk stepped over to hug Rham playfully, earning him a relatively ineffective shove. "It's okay man. We still love you. Fire Nation clothes and all."

The four began to settle down for a night of Pro Bending and frequent jabs at each other. Surprisingly, Opal found she got along relatively well with the others in spite of their rather unusual welcoming. It seemed Bolin's friends were actually fond of her. Somehow though, Bolin couldn't shake the feeling that she was uncomfortable for some reason. He decided to address it later on in private.

* * *

Later that evening, at Bolin's apartment, the couple arrived after the conclusion of the Pro Bending match. There had been much in the way of food, laughs, and mild mannered taunting aimed at all individuals present. Bolin had enjoyed himself, but his senses told him that he would be in for a talk when he got home.

He gently prodded, poking his fingertips together as he spoke "Sooo…did you have a good time?"

"Um. Yeah, I enjoyed it." Opal didn't look at him when she said this.

Uh-oh. He knew that voice she was using. "Listen, Opal. It's okay if you didn't like them or if you were uncomfortable, but please don't lie to me about it."

Opal sighed "It wasn't them that made me uncomfortable." She paused, trying to think of the best way to phrase what she wanted to say. The last thing she wanted was to fight. "It was you."

Bolin was shocked to say the least. His eyes grew wide, wondering what he'd done to upset his number one girl. "Opal, I made you upset? How?"

She looked down at this, doing whatever she could to avoid making eye contact. "I don't know. It's like you were a whole different person there." She began to tear up a bit. She couldn't understand why. It wasn't like this was a huge deal or anything, but it bothered her none the less. "It felt like I didn't even know who you were. Like my Bolin had suddenly vanished as soon as his friends got involved."

Moving to hug her from behind, Bolin spoke gently in her ear. "Opal I don't understand, I'm always like that around them. I mean they're the guys, and I'm one of the guys."

Opal began to grow frustrated, and those feelings manifested in her tone of voice. "Yeah, Rham is a stuck-up piece of work, and Pau is too loud, and Royuk actually thinks he's funny. I grew up with two younger brothers, Bolin. I know how boys act around each other. I just didn't expect them to change you so much. To turn you into some arrogant, pig-headed…" she struggled to find the word "BRO! You were a bro!"

This, he found offensive. He loved his friends, and he didn't think that they had any negative effect on who he was. "Wait, Opal. What are you saying? That you think they're a bad influence on me? Those are my friends you're talking about!"

She tried to pull free from his grasp "It's not that! It's just that I don't like how you change when you're around them! When we went there I thought everything would be fine even we all didn't get along, because I'd have you there with me. Except I _didn't_ have you! I had some-some-some frat boy and a bunch of his dudes!"

Bolin chose not to reply. Their voices had escalated to yelling at this point, and he had enough experience to know when to try defusing an argument. He thought his response over carefully. "So, you're mad because you saw a part of me you've never seen before?"

Opal paused. His question seemed to describe how she felt; but using his interpretation of the problem made her feel guilty. She didn't want to accept the fact that there are sides of Bolin she didn't know. At the same time, she felt that it would be unfair to get mad at him over something so reasonable. It seemed entirely possible that he had parts of him she had yet to understand.

Her silence seemed to be a sign to press on. "Look Opal, there are reasons there are boys nights, just like there are date nights; and NEVER shall the two of them meet." He moved a hand to her chin, gently turning her to face him. "There are sides of me I don't show you. Likewise, there are sides of me I never show them. They're separate of each other, but they're all a part of me. How would you feel if I got all smoochy and snuggly with Rham?"

Opal giggled at the mental image that began to formulate in her head. "Well, I feel that Pau would get really jealous."

They both laughed at this.

"-but, it's not fair. You're saying you have parts of yourself you hide from me?"

The Earth Bender thought carefully, knowing he was walking a thin line between a civil conversation and a yelling match. "No. Not at all. I'm saying that you wouldn't want me to call you names and humiliate you like a bad ass on a regular basis."

Opal replied in a deadpan tone "I believe 'savage' is the word you guys were using."

Bolin grinned "Yes, Opal. Your boyfriend can be a 'savage'. Not around you though. You don't want or need that part of me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, I want you to understand who I am like no one else does. That's what makes this a relationship. However, there's a big difference between understanding the different parts of me and seeing them in action. You get the whole package, but you also get the exclusive parts. Does that make sense?"

She nodded. "I guess so. Just promise you won't go overboard with the whole 'bro' thing, okay?"

He swooped in for a quick kiss "I promise to try."

Opal smiled and moved to kiss him again. "That'll do."

* * *

Closing Notes:

These chapters draw inspiration from my personal life. As such, I do not want to edit/censor the content heavily to retain authenticity. I will be changing parts to remain in line with the canon.

Thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Opening Notes:

Rated T just in case.

Takes place about a year after the conclusion of Book 4. To those familiar with my other work, these chapters exist separate from my fictions. However, I will do my best to avoid contradiction my other works.

Happy reading.

* * *

 **Logic?**

Hot.

There were better words to use, but it would take effort to think of them, and it was too hot for that.

Bolin lay sprawled on the couch, fanning himself with a recent copy of Pro Bending Illustrated, trying his best to get his mind of the heat. Unfortunately, the coming distraction would be a poor alternative. A scream cut through the apartment.

"Bolin! I swear if you keep doing this, I'm leaving you!"

Setting his magazine down with a groan, Bolin pinched the bridge of his nose, bracing himself for the argument that was about to ensue. He shouted back for what felt like the millionth time this week.

"Opal! You have no argument! We both know that _I'm_ right!"

* * *

It had been roughly a fortnight since Opal had moved into her boyfriend's new apartment, a step one might consider long overdue in light of how long they'd been dating. However, due to the collapse of the Earth Kingdom and Kuvira tearing up half of Republic City, the two had been forced to put their relationship on the backburner for a bit.

Surprisingly, everyone had been quite supportive of the decision. Mako had a place of his own now and frankly didn't care much, but the two had expected more resistance from Opals parents. Even Tenzin, who had expressed his desire to house air benders at Air Temple island on multiple occasions, had allowed the move. Opal suspected that Pema may have been strong-arming Tenzin behind the scenes.

As such, the two had recently found themselves in their first fight regarding the state of the now shared apartment, and neither seemed ready to concede anytime soon. Between the natural stubbornness of the two and the unbearable heat stifling the air, both parties found themselves to be more easily agitated than usual.

* * *

"No, you're definitely _not_ right!" Opal continued to shout from the next room. "It's not hard to do! It takes like to seconds to put the seat down!"

At this point, Bolin was already tired of the quarrel. He'd behaved the same way since the day he learned to use a toilet. His father had raised him as such, and he had no reason to change his habits while living with Mako. His older brother even vehemently agreed with the earth bender when he mentioned the fight to him.

"Opal, you have no argument!" He shouted back. "If it's so easy to do then just do it yourself!"

"That's not the point, Bo!" Opal shouted as flushing coupled with running tap water could be heard from down the hall. She marched into the living room, arms crossed, prepared for the battle ahead. "It's at least five times harder for a girl to use the bathroom than a boy. The _least_ you can do is put the seat down for me!"

"Oh, well _excuse_ me, your majesty. I didn't realize it was my sworn duty to patrol the bathroom for you!" Pealing himself from the couch, Bolin leapt up and threw his hand into a swift salute. "Ma'am, it is an honor and a privilege to lower the seat on your behalf! I live to serve the Bei Fong family!"

This made Opal seethe. She'd always found sarcasm to be one of the most offensive forms of speech, and she knew Bolin was well aware of this. A poor combination of weather and circumstance had her blood boiling, and she was doing her best to keep from snapping. Bolin was clearly not helping matters any.

"Don't. You. Dare." No longer yelling, Opal had reached the point where volume was no longer necessary to intimidate. "Don't you dare speak to me that way." She glowered back at him. Sweat trickled down her brow as she exuded an aura of pure rage.

At this point, it would've probably been a good idea to back off, but his frustration with the pointless recurring argument combined with the oppressive heat bearing down on him had vaporized any sense that Bolin had left.

He brought his tone down to the air benders level, prepared to match her blow for blow. "I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not. I'd say you're right, but then I'd be wrong. You don't leave a jar of pickles open. Nor do you a can of paint. You. Close. The. _Lid_. The toilet has a lid. When you're done using the toilet, you close the lid. Don't get mad at me just because you're being irrationa-"

The pro bender's sentence was cut off by a swift cracking coming from his cheek. Ordinarily, Bolin knew better than to use the "I" word, but today he'd found himself especially good at setting his girlfriend off. He'd seen Mako slapped by a girl or two in the past, but had no inkling of the sensation until now. He stood there, face still turned away from the Bei Fong girl, trying to figure out what had just happened. He slowly turned back to her, at an utter loss for words, wondering if she'd actually hit him just now.

Opal watched as Bolin slowly righted his head, prepared for the next volley of words she expected to start flying. She knew they would never come when she saw the look of shock and hurt in her boyfriend's eyes. Her gaze shifted to the warm stinging sensation that she began to feel radiating from her palm. Confusion flashed across her features for a moment before they morphed into an expression of guilt at the realization of what she'd just done.

"Bolin, I...I-I-I didn't…I'm sorry." She had a hard time meeting his eyes, realizing that she'd just struck her boyfriend for the first time.

For the sake of fairness, Opal had always disliked the idea of slapping a loved one. Disregarding her pact of non-aggression, she thought it unfair to physically hurt Bolin, knowing that no matter what, he would never allow himself to lose control like that on her.

Before she could stutter out any more apologies, the earth bender had already brought her in for one of his trademark platypus-bear hugs.

"I know sweetie. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have pushed you like that."

Opal smiled as she buried her face into his chest. "Thanks, Bo."

"…"

"…you smell like sweat."

Bolin rolled his eyes as he pulled his girlfriend back from his chest. "Babe, you realize how angry you'd be if I said that to you?"

"I suppose you're right." Opal giggled as she stroked the side of Bolin's face she'd just hit.

"Listen sweetie, if it _really_ means that much to you, I'll stop closing the lid." Bolin held her by the chin as he spoke "But don't tell Mako. I need to make it look like I put my foot down" he said with a wink.

Opal laughed as she placed a light kiss on his lips. "No problem."

* * *

The cool evening air greeted Bolin like a long lost friend. He placed his feet on the coffee table and slouched back, enjoying the much needed change in atmosphere. Happy girlfriend, pleasant weather, nothing could be better. Just as he began to settle in more comfortably, he heard a splash.

"BOLIN I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

* * *

Closing Notes:

Whoooo hoooo! New apartment, new laptop, new semester! I'll do my best to make time to write these fictions. They're surprisingly...cathartic? I'm not sure if that describes it accurately but that's the best word I can think of currently.

Thanks for reading.


End file.
